When a Lesson Goes Wrong Part 1 (Uncut)

Grades 9-12 / ELA / Analysis

CCSS:
ELA.RL.9-10.2
ELA.RL.9-10.9

Common Core State Standards

ELA

English Language Arts

RL

Reading Standards for Literature 6-12

9-10

9th & 10th Grades

2

Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its
development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is
shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work (e.g., how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible or how a later author draws on a play by Shakespeare).

[Music playing in background]
Teacher: All right, so here’s what I wanna think about today, all right? Yesterday we talked about this idea of reputation and we were thinking about this and what happens when your name gets smeared. I don’t know if you remember, but I also told you yesterday that Arthur Miller, the playwright—the author of the play—his greatest tragedy—he thinks the greatest tragedy is when an everyday person loses their sense of self, or that they go to some really horrible lengths to preserve their sense of self. What do you think happened to John Proctor? Do you think that he went to really extreme lengths to preserve his reputation, or do you think he lost his reputation? Yeah.
Student: I think he lost his reputation because in trying to help others and save others from being killed and convicted, he burned himself almost.
Teacher: Bailey?
Student: After he had tried to tell everybody that he wasn’t an adulterer, he hid that for so long that he kinda’ just realized that it was too hard to try to hide something. At the end he was just like, “You know what? Yes, I did this and I’m not gonna let other people’s reputations get ruined just because mine was.”
Teacher: Right.
Student: I think that he learned from hiding it for so long.
Teacher: Absolutely, absolutely. Anybody else? Randy?
Student: I think John went to extreme measures to preserve his reputation because he ripped it up and then he died.
Teacher: Explain why that is going to extremes. I agree with you.
Student: Cuz he died.
[Laughter]
Teacher: Yeah, yeah. What do you think is the—do you think that’s what he should’ve done?
Student: Died?
Student: It was the right thing to do.
Student: That’s what I would’ve done.
Teacher: You think it was the—I thought I heard a couple people over here starting to talk. No? Bailey?
Student: I think that it was smart of him to do that just cuz he wanted people to remember him as a good guy that was honest and wasn’t gonna throw his friends under the bus. At the same time I think that it was a little selfish cuz he has a family and everything and who’s gonna provide for his family now because he’s gonna die. I think that he didn’t really—I think he thought of other people instead of his family.
Teacher: All right, so how many of you think John Proctor did the right thing, and then, the wrong thing? Okay, so what’s good right now is that you’re kind of—and maybe some of you aren’t sure. Maybe you’re not sure if he did the right thing or the wrong thing and that’s okay. The paper that we’re going to work on—I’m gonna kind of give you this kind of focus guide for it—is gonna really ask you to think about this idea of the character’s reputation. There you go.
Student: Thank you.
Teacher: You’re welcome. I’m gonna give you kind of this prompt and we’re gonna talk more about this on Monday, so we’re not gonna spend a lot of time today actually going through all of this. I wanna kind of give you a big picture—big idea—of what we’re working towards cuz we’re actually gonna spend most of the class period today, looking at some other sources that might help you think about how to pull together these different ideas about a person’s reputation. First of all, I want you just to look at this prompt. Do you see this prompt right here in kind of the bigger text?
All right, so it says, “Arthur Miller believed that the biggest tragedy was the fall of the common man. In other words, nothing is sadder than an everyday person losing his identity and having to live with those consequences.” In this paper that you’re gonna start working on, examine the impact of preserving or losing reputation, so underline that—the impact of preserving or losing reputation—using The Crucible, along with one other text. The most important part here is what?
[Several students speaking over one another]
Teacher: What’s the most important part?
Student: Impact of preserving or losing reputation.
Teacher: Right, absolutely. Everybody take out a piece of paper. We’re gonna fold it up a little bit; we’re gonna fold it up a little bit. I’m gonna ask you to fold hot dog and hamburger. Take out a piece of paper. Fold hot dog and hamburger so that when you’re done you’ve got a piece of paper with four quadrants on it.
[Students rustling papers and talking in background]
[05:00]
Teacher: In the top quadrant—all right, in the top quadrant—so it looks like this.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: I want you to write The Crucible right here. Then these other three are going to be some sources that you’re gonna choose. At the top please put this. At the top I want you to put this—the impact of preserving or losing reputation. This is gonna be our reading purpose, so we’re gonna do a little reading, but this is gonna be our purpose, so this is gonna be our reading purpose—the impact of preserving or losing reputation. We’ve read The Crucible already and so you’re gonna be able to think of some examples—some elements of The Crucible where the character—there’s an impact of preserving or losing reputation.
Student: Cool. That’s huge.
Teacher: It is but you’re not gonna read it all.
Student: I just gotta color a few things.
Student: I have to color this?
Student: You’re not gonna read it all.
Student: Do we have to draw pictures?
Teacher: Here ya go.
Student: Do you have [inaudible 06:23]?
Teacher: It—
Student: Is this homework?
Teacher: No, not yet [laughing].
Student: No yet? This is a lot of paper.
Teacher: No, we’re not gonna read—it’ll be okay.
Student: It’s a lot of paper.
Teacher: It is a lot of paper. All right, so before we go to these foldables—all right, so before we go to this—all right everybody, whoa. Look at that timeline.
Student: Sorry.
Teacher: That’s all right.
Student: Mine’s all in color.
Student: Sorry.
Student: Mine’s pretty awesome. I’m just tellin’ ya.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: Okay, we are going to start—first of all, when we do research—okay, can I get everybody up here. Thank you. When we do research, a lot of times what happens is we get a bunch of sources and then we have to figure out which of those sources we want to use and which ones we don’t want to use. What I did is I was thinking about—you know I was thinking about this topic—the impact of preserving or losing reputation—and I pulled five different sources. The first thing that we need to do is we need to figure out which of these sources are gonna be helpful for us, or which sources are valid.
Because I’ll tell ya one of the biggest mistakes that students make when they start to try to research and to include other sources in their work, is they choose the first one instead of the best one. Does that make sense? I’m gonna go through. I’m gonna just tell you a little bit about these and I want you to be thinking about which are the sources that we would actually want to focus on, and which ones might not be helpful to us. The first one—okay, so source number one is an excerpt. Do you know what an excerpt is?
Student: Yeah. Something taken from like a magazine?
Teacher: Right, so it’s a smaller section of a larger piece, and I’ve givin’ you a lot of excerpts today because a lot the materials—a lot of materials are really, really long like maybe 20 pages long or something like that. All right, you ready? Okay, so let’s take a look here. This first one is an excerpt from a survey about American literature and it starts by talking a little bit about the play and then it goes in to telling a little bit about how it was produced. The second one—all right, if you go to the second one—so you’re lookin’ at the first one. Everybody go to the second one—second one looks like this.
[Students rustling papers in background]
Teacher: This particular source is from Wikipedia and it is talking about just when the play was produced and it gives a little bit of a summary. Number three is a biography. This is a biography about the author; it tells where he was born—what else he’s written. Number four is an excerpt of an essay that Arthur Miller wrote about writing The Crucible; that’s number four. Then number five is an excerpt from a speech where the person—this is a commencement speech.
Student: Where?
Teacher: Number five. It’s called Solitude and Leadership and it’s where this person is talking about what it means to be a leader. I want you to put these in order.
[10:00]
Teacher: Which ones do you think would be the most helpful to our purpose, to the least helpful—most helpful to least helpful? You ready? Okay, so take a look; just write it down on your—just write on this piece of paper. Put ’em in order—five, four, three, two, one—one, two, five, four, three—whatever it is—most helpful to least helpful.
[Students talking and rustling papers in background]
Student: What was the first one again?
Teacher: The first one is a little bit about The Crucible and it’s also talking about civil disobedience. It means that you disobey rules on purpose. You go against rules on purpose.
[Students talking in background]
Student: Oooh, why don’t we go?
Student: It only took 20 minutes.
Student: Oh, my God.
[Students talking in background]
Teacher: All right. How we doin’? Okay, let’s start here; let’s start. Most useful—all right, hold up the number one, two, three, four, five. Most useful?
[Students talking in background]
Teacher: I got a lot of—
Student: Fives.
Teacher: - a lot of fours—a lot of fives it looks like. What about the least useful? All right, let me see least useful.
Student: Two.
Teacher: Two?
Student: Four.
Teacher: Four?
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: Three?
Student: It’s two or three.
Student: Shut up.
Teacher: All right.
Student: It’s two.
Teacher: Okay, so I wanna hear some of your reasoning. Let’s start off with the least useful, all right? Anmere 11:38, what do you think?
Student: I have number two—
Teacher: Yeah?
Student: - because it’s from Wikipedia and that’s like not really a reliable source, so that’s why two.
Teacher: Okay. Does anybody agree with this?
Student: Yes.
Teacher: Or at least one of the least useful?
Student: Yes, ma’am.
Teacher: Yeah, okay. Why else might it not be useful? Wikipedia isn’t always the most reliable but sometimes people do cite Wikipedia. What else makes it not useful?
Student: It’s just a summary.
Teacher: It’s just a summary.
Student: Telling us what we’ve already read.
Teacher: Absolutely, and what’s our purpose? Are we trying to get a summary of the play?
Student: No.
Student: No.
Teacher: What are we trying to do?
Student: Collect information.
Student: We’re trying to find—
Student: Find the impact—
Student: Compare it—
Teacher: Right, we’re trying to compare it and find the impact. All right, so I would put an X through number two.
Student: [Inaudible 12:20] seriously?
Teacher: Yeah, seriously. I would put an X through number two.
Student: Get outta town.
Teacher: It doesn’t mean that you can’t read it.
Student: Oh, my God.
Teacher: I mean it doesn’t mean that you can’t read it, but it’s not necessarily gonna serve your purpose, right? Okay, let’s talk about another one that might not be very useful.
Student: Tres.
Teacher: Number three you think?
Student: Yeah.
Teacher: Does anybody agree with that? Number three might not be very useful?
[Students speaking over one another in background]
Student: It talked about his life. We don’t need this.
Student: It’s a [cross talk 12:46] biography.
Teacher: Okay.
Student: It’s a biography. We don’t need that.
Teacher: You’re exactly right. You’ve got it. You’re exactly right, okay? Why is Arthur Miller’s?
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: Hey, folks. Why is Arthur Miller’s biography not helpful to our purpose?
Student: Because we don’t wanna—
Teacher: Shhh.
Student: We don’t wanna find out find about the author. We wanna find out about the impact of the book and we wanna compare the play.
Teacher: Absolutely. Could you say that one more time?
Student: We don’t wanna find out about the author—
Teacher: Shhh.
Student: - and his life [laughing]. I can’t talk now.
Teacher: That’s okay.
Student: Ummm, but we wanna find out about—
Teacher: Guys, guys—
Student: - the impact of the play—
Teacher: Shhh.
Student: - not the author.
Teacher: Wonderful. Madeline 13:23, did you wanna add anything?
Student: It’s not even about The Crucible.
Teacher: No.
Student: You gotta understand.
Teacher: No. It’s not. Now, are there times when this might be a helpful source?
Student: Yep.
Student: Yep.
Teacher: Right, but again, we have a purpose, right? When we have a really clear purpose, it helps us decide which ones we’re gonna focus on. Put an X through it. Put an X through number three.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: This leaves us with which numbers?
Student: Four or five.
Teacher: This leaves us with which numbers?
Student: One, four and five.
Teacher: One, four and five. Put a one, put a four, put a five.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: Put a one, put a four, put a five.
Student: One, four or five?
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: We got one, we got four—we’ve got five. Okay?
Student: [Inaudible 14:08]
Teacher: We’ve got a one and a four and a five.
[Students talking in background]
Teacher: All right, so this is what I’m going to do. Hey, folks. I need you to listen up.
[Students continuing to talk in background]
Teacher: All right. [Whispering] I need you to listen up. Shhh. I’m gonna give you a change to do some reading. I’m gonna give you a chance—
Student: Ohhh.
Teacher: Oh, I know. You love to read. All right, but I will tell you you’re read—shhh.
[Students laughing in background]
Teacher: Here’s the thing that is going to be important about your reading. You’re reading with a very specific purpose, and what is your purpose?
Student: To find out—
Student: To find the impact.
Teacher: To find the impact, exactly. I’m gonna go through—I’m gonna tell you just a little bit more about these. We’re going to start, and I’m going to ask for volunteers. We’re gonna have about a third of the class read one, about a third of the class read number four and a third of the class read number five.
[15:00]
Teacher: They’re all about the same length because I’m only having you read certain paragraphs from some of them. I want you to listen one more time to see which one you’d like to do. Number one is about civil disobedience—
Student: Yesss.
Teacher: - which means that you don’t follow the rules sometimes, on purpose. You purposely do not follow the rules.
[Students talking in background]
Student: You’re uncivilized.
Teacher: Okay? You’re a rebel. Yes, all right. What does this have to do with The Crucible?
Student: Cuz people like [cross talk 15:34]—
Teacher: What do you think this has to do with The Crucible?
Student: Johnny is a rebel.
Teacher: Yes [laughing] Johnny is a rebel. All right, how come?
Student: I dunno’.
Teacher: All right, so let’s think about this. Civil disobedience is what? Brandon?
Student: Just goin’ against the man pretty much.
Teacher: Pretty much.
[Laughter]
Teacher: Actually that’s perfect. Yeah. Can you tell me how he does that?
Student: He was facin’ the court and what not, and all that stuff.
Student: Facin’ the man.
Teacher: Right, exactly. He’s goin’ against the man, all right. All righty, so if you are going to read number one—all right, if you’re gonna read number one, you’re gonna think about how number one connects to John Proctor not following the rules. Okay? Number four—let’s take a look at number four. Number four is Arthur Miller and this is where he is talking about writing The Crucible and he’s gonna give you some insight—put your phone away Bailey. He’s gonna give you some insight.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: One of the things that you could think about if you are reading number four, is you’re gonna look for some of the key words that he says about writing this and some of the key things that he says about preserving or losing reputation. Number five—if you’re interested in reading number five. Number five is going to talk about what it means to be a leader. What does this have to do with The Crucible potentially?
Student: Somebody has to be a leader and be the first one to stand up for what they believe in.
Teacher: Absolutely. This one is going to be about what it means to be a leader and what that’s really all about. In the paper—and we’re gonna talk more about this on Monday. What we’re going to do today is get ready because on Monday when you come to class, you’re gonna get 45 minutes and you’re gonna write a Babel draft.
[Students talking in background]
Teacher: You’re gonna write a Babel draft on Monday—
Student: That’s hilarious.
Teacher: - which means—it does sound kind of funny, doesn’t it?
Student: Use Babylon first.
Teacher: You’re just going. You’re gonna write and write and write. You’re gonna get 45 minutes and you’re gonna write, but in order to do this, you have to kind of start making some connections today. Let’s start with, who would like to read number one? Who wants to read number one?
Student: Let’s do it.
Student: Yeah, I’ll do it.
Teacher: Okay. All right, we’ve got three people. The three of you—you’re going to meet over here in just a minute.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: Who is reading number four? Who wants to do the Arthur Miller part?
[Students talking in background]
Teacher: Okay, you guys are gonna be—I’ll have you meet over here.
Student: Let’s just sit here.
Teacher: The rest of you stay right—you’re gonna do four?
Student: I wanted to read one.
Teacher: One? Then you’re gonna come over here. If you’re reading number five, you’re gonna stay right where you are. I’m gonna give you just a little bit of time here—all right, just a little bit of time to—well, I’ll give you—what time do we get out?
Seventeen? All right, so I’m gonna give you nine minutes, all right, to get started. I’m gonna give you about nine minutes to get started—eight minutes to get, seven minutes to get started.
Student: Eight.
Teacher: Time management’s horrible today. I’m gonna give you about seven minutes to get started and then we’re gonna share out at least what you’ve come up with. Then I’ll tell you what I need you do over the weekend.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: Okay, Alise 18:56 asked a really good question. Shhhhhh.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: Alise asked a really good question. She asked, “What are we writing in these little boxes?”
Student: Wah-wah.
Teacher: She asked, “What are we writing in these little boxes?” As you are reading, I just want you to underline the important things, and we’re gonna transfer those here. For right now you’re just gonna underline the important things.
Student: Thanks.
Teacher: All righty? Everybody ready?
Student: You’re like a five-year-old girl.
Teacher: Okay. Go ahead and get started. You’ve got about six minutes to start. See what you can come up with. You’re gonna have to get focused really quickly.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: [Whispering] Okay, Danny, right here. Well, you’re going to write here what’s important. Yeah, so what connects to purpose? What from this connects to the purpose? All right, hey folks. Cheyenne 19:46 just asked a really good question.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: Shhhhhh. She said, “What am I gonna put in this box?” I know Alise asked this once, but I’ll answer it again. You’re gonna put in
[20:00] this box the things that connect to your purpose. You’re gonna put in this box the things that connect to this purpose.
Student: Gotcha.
Teacher: All right? Does that make sense?
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: Yeah, most of you are staying because all of the fives are staying. Yeah.
Student: All of us.
Teacher: Ones and fours over here. Everybody else stay. Just kind of sit over there so that you’ll have a minute to talk to each other.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: All righty folks. You don’t have much time. Let’s get started reading.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Student: Joe, would you stop?
Student: What? I don’t even look like [inaudible 20:34].
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: No, you’re reading it to yourselves. No, no, no. You’re reading it to yourselves.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: Yes. You’re reading it to yourselves. Okay, then there ya go. Folk, shhhhhh.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Student: They’re all so long.
Teacher: Oh, I excerpted them, like a lot. They were both like 20 pages long.
Student: Do I stop there?
Teacher: Yeah.
Student: Oh, wait. We stop there?
Student: Oh, so we start there.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Student: We stop there.
Student: [Laughing]
Student: Start there [laughing].
Teacher: You’re reading this. You’re finding out what parts of this article connect to this purpose up here and you’re putting ’em right here, okay?
Student: Yeah but I don’t like know what to put in the [inaudible 21:24].
Teacher: The moments that you’re reading that explain the impact of preserving or losing your reputation. Okay? Does that sound good?
Student: Yeah.
Teacher: All right. All righty folks.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: You guys are so not doing this are you?
Student: No.
Student: I’m trying.
[Students talking and laughing loudly in background]
Teacher: No, you’re really not, are you?
Student: I’ve read two paragraphs.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Student: I’m tired and hungry.
Teacher: You’re so tired and hungry and it’s Friday and blah, blah, blah. All right—exactly. What?
Student: I don’t understand—
Teacher: What?
Student: - the big words in here and I don’t understand.
Teacher: There are big words in there that you don’t understand, like where honey?
Student: Just everywhere, like what does this mean?
Teacher: That’s an author.
Student: Oooh—
Teacher: Okay?
Student: - and what is this?
Teacher: Where at honey?
Student: Um, with the P right here.
Teacher: Oh, I don’t know. You can look it up.
Student: Okay.
Teacher: Look it up. All right folks. Let’s do this. Let’s do this.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: All right. Shhhhhh. Why don’t you come back? We only have three minutes. Let’s do this.
Student: I got through my [inaudible 22:42].
Teacher: Good. That’s good, that’s good. Okay. [Big sigh] all right, let me at least make sure that you understand what I’m gonna ask you to do—shhhhhh—what I’m gonna ask you to do for Monday. I’m going to ask you to read one of these articles. If you decide—shhhhhh—if you decide to switch because the one that you’re reading isn’t working, you may do that, but when you come on Monday, I wanna see this box filled in and one of the others. Okay?
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: You can have ideas from The Crucible and then one of these boxes filled in. Do you understand what you’re putting in these boxes?
Student: Yeah.
Student: Yeah.
Teacher: You do? Okay, tell me. Zach 23:32, what are puttin’ in there?
Student: Evidence that [cross talk 23:35].
Teacher: Shhhhhh.
Student: Okay, evidence that we see in our section on impact of preserving or [cross talk 23:42] reputation.
Teacher: Okay. Great. All right, sounds good.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
Teacher: An example, so all right, so Alise asked a really great question. She said, “What would be an example of this?” For example—tse-tse-tse-tse-tse—it says—
[Students talking in background]
Teacher: Okay, so we have a crisis of leadership in America. We have a crisis of leadership in America. That to me would connect to this up here, because if we have a crisis of leadership, then we probably have a crisis of—it’s kind of like John Proctor, right? He needs to be a leader and he was also having a crisis.
Student: All right.
Teacher: All right? Sound good? Okay. All righty. I’ll have to fix on Monday.
[Digital bell ringing]
Teacher: What? All righty, I will see you later.
[Students talking and laughing in background]
[End of Audio]